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The Dress
2008-05-07 22:12:00
Thanks for the nudge, sis =) Will write about prom later (I’m supposed to be getting ready for work at the moment!) but here’s pics of Bren and her date, William. (click on pic to enlarge):
More About: Dress

It’s Here!
2008-04-22 10:56:00
Spring has finally arrived :) It was 65 degrees today and the snow is melting fast. On my short drive home from work through the housing area the streets and sidewalks were alive with people and pets. Little kids on tricycles, families walking together; garage doors open, releasing four-wheelers and motorcycles from their winter caves. The Spring air was filled with sounds barking dogs, laughter, the pounding of adolescent feet on the ground; sputtering motors, water parting as cars made their way through endless puddles that reflected shimmering sunlight. Sunday after church Bren and I drove to town in search of The Prom Dress and it was actually a very enjoyable experience. We had a lot of fun. In the past, clothes shopping with Bren never ended well, both of us were always reduced to a mess of anger and tears. The difference now is that she is no longer stuck in the No Girl’s Land that is out of the Girls section but not quite in the Juniors. My baby is almost al...

I Love to Sleep
2008-04-20 09:07:00
I love sleep too much. I know this because whenever I get a lot of sleep I feel the need to tell the whole world. Hey! I got to sleep in today! I don’t have to be in to work until 2 p.m. but I have been late once or twice because I overslept. I think my co-workers find this amusing…or I find it amusing and they think…well, whatever they want. I hope they know that my afternoon naps are the reason why I have the energy to hang out with teenagers all afternoon! (more…)
More About: Love , Sleep

Quick Nightcap
2008-04-18 11:40:00
Bren’s need to write a five-page alternate ending to Lord of The Flies for English tonight totally trumps my desire to blog, so I won’t complain. Maybe in the near future I’ll get a little laptop of my own and leave Brenna’s alone. She’d be thrilled. I just went to let the dog out one last time for the night and it’s snowing—AGAIN. But I’m not complaining…. Cooking Club—or Cooking With Donna, as Rick calls it—went fairly well today. Rick makes fun of me because he thinks it’s hilarious that I teach a cooking class for little kids. I’m the worst planner and biggest procrastinator in the world, and not the greatest cook, and none of those qualities is in the recipe that creates a cooking teacher. I’m usually on the computer an hour before work trying to decide what recipe to make that day, then make a mad dash to the grocery store for missing ingredients before sliding into work. Hm. Kind...
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Hm
2008-04-17 17:37:00
Last night’s non-existent post was brought to you by by the letter “B” and the number 15. There is a computer hog living under this roof. I mean besides me. Man, it’s 3-below this morning and we got another dusting of snow last night. Spring, O Spring, where art thou? Did the groundhog see three more months of winter way back in February? Hm.

Why? Because He Loves
2008-04-16 20:05:00
You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him of whom I so earnestly desired not to meet….I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? (C.S. Lewis inYours, Jack, page 9, and Surprised by Joy, Chapter 14) Never does much time go by when I don’t wonder why God would choose to save me. After I read this passage last night from Yours, Jack I began wondering all over agai...

Prayer Request
2008-04-15 23:40:00
This is my aunt, Janet, who is nearing the end of her tour in Iraq. She emailed the family asking us to pray for her for what sounds like a serious physical problem, so I am passing this request on to you all, her brothers and sisters in Christ, family, and friends. She’s due to come home around May 23rd. Please pray her home! Thank you. ~ Donna
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Games ‘n Such
2008-04-15 11:18:00
I saw something today for the first time this winter (it’s actually Spring now, isn’t it?)—a snowman. We received two or three inches of snow last night and this morning, and it was wet snow; definitely not the norm for us. Our snow is dry and powdery and it squeaks when you walk on it. It is impossible to create snowballs and snowmen with it. Good about the snowballs (everyone and everything would be a target seven months out of the year), not so good about the snowmen. I love snowmen. The one I saw was created by a six-year-old in his yard at the end of our street. It was no more than two feet tall and had small branches for the arms. I left my camera at home, so I didn’t get a picture, but it was a cute. Bren came down with a cold last night and was still sick this morning. I told her to get back in bed and she slept for five more hours. She had left her wallet and cell phone at her friend’s house, so I called the friend and she was sick...
More About: Games

Moving — Again
2008-04-14 08:37:00
Is it my imagination, or did the girls look like they had fun last night? (Hint: the bikini top-wearing fashion statement is related to me in some way). Amazingly enough, Bren got to sleep by 3 a.m. and was rested enough to keep from falling asleep in church this afternoon. While I sat in the truck this morning waiting for Bren to emerge from her friend’s house, I rolled the window down so I could smell and feel the cold air. It hit me just how much I am going to miss about Alaska. I love the cold, I just don’t like the brutal frigid air. After I took this pic I hung my hand out the window and tried my best to memorize how good it felt. I know soon enough I will be hanging my sweaty hand out the window, letting it float on the hot Missouri summer air. (more…)
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Books & Clothes: The Sacrifice
2008-04-13 13:35:00
One of the BEST feelings in the world to me is waking up in the morning/afternoon, thinking I don’t have to get up, and sleeping for another couple hours. I fully deserve any curses that come from the love of sleep. So yeah, I did get up at noon today. Bren fell asleep on the couch last night while we were watching The Devil Wears Prada and since she had taken her contacts out, I left her sleeping on the couch when I went to bed at about 3:00 a.m. It was heart-wrenching, but I managed to pull around fifty unwanted, unneeded, unloved...I manged to pull fifty books off my shelves that I could part with without becoming emotionally distraght. My books had been sitting patiently, stacked in a laundry basket at the end of my bed for over a week, so Rick finally boxed them up and dropped them off at the Literacy Council when he went into town this afternoon. Amazingly enough Rick only joked once that I hadn’t even made a small dent in my collection by sacrificing f...
More About: Books , Clothes , Sacrifice

Girl’s Night Out
2008-04-12 12:57:00
Bren and I had a really nice time out tonight doing our regular biz in town. I got off work at six and by seven we were headed for Fairbanks. Rick had gotten up at 3:30 a.m. to help with a breakfast fund-raiser at the club this morning, so he was pretty much useless this evening and looked forward to getting an early night. It was all good—he doesn’t have what it takes to hang with Bren and me on our marathon reading sessions at The Mother Ship anyway. The bookstore was really quiet and enjoyable this evening. After a couple hours, Bren finished reading Love Walked In which she loved. Once when I looked up from my book and over at her, she was holding her finger on a page and had a pouty lip. I asked her what was wrong and she said, “I’m about to read the last sentence but I don’t want to because I don’t want the book to end.” Since I am reading Belong To Me, the follow-on to Love Walked In, I pointed out that she has the next boo...
More About: Night , Girl

Handwritten Letters
2008-04-10 11:27:00
C.S. Lewis’s full name was Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963). I did not know this. Currently I sit in an overstuffed chair by the fire at The Mother Ship (Barnes&Noble) in Fairbanks scribbling these random thoughts on a piece of graphing paper I ripped from Bren’s still unpaid for math notebook. After reading fifty pages in my current read Belong To Me, I paused for a stretch and made my way to the restroom at the back of the store. On my way back to my seat I swung by the theology section to see if Piper, MacArthur, Sproul, Packer, Willard, or Strobel had anything new published since I’d last checked. With negative results, I turned to walk away when Yours, Jack, by C.S. Lewis caught my eye. Beautiful dust jacket. (more…)
More About: Letters

Hellooooooo?????
2008-03-31 10:35:00
Thought I would stop in and grease the blogging wheels here at An Heir of Grace. I’m drafting a post that will explain some big changes that are coming up in our lives rather quickly. Look for it tomorrow (Mon). I kept getting interrupted and didn’t finish it tonight. This weekend Bren attended the ROTC Ball in Fairbanks with her friend G. They had a wonderful time and she reported afterward that the Ball was much more fun and classy than the prom was last year. Thankfully she has decided to forego the prom this year, even though she’s been invited by an upperclassman. Having a teenage girl can be expensive this time of year! But, as you can see by the pic, I think she’s worth every penny. The girl cleans up perdy good :) click on pic to enlarge

Winter Blues
2008-02-07 21:58:00
It’s nearly eleven a.m. on this incredibly frigid day in the middle of this incredibly frigid week. I’m sitting on the couch in the living room, feet up on the coffee table (coffee within reach), laptop on my lap. Bad Dog Neezy is sprawled out on the love seat snoring across the room. The Atlantis Space Shuttle launch is being broadcast live on Fox News. My feet are really cold. (more…)
More About: Blues , Winter

No Excitement Allowed
2008-01-02 10:16:00
Happy New Year, everyone. Hm. There is so much stuff going on in our personal lives at the moment, that I’m finding it difficult to to write much of anything. I don’t recall a time in the past when a new year began on low note. I’m confident things will be brighter before long. New Year’s Eve we didn’t do much. Bren walked across the street to a party she had been invited to, but came home at 11:30 so be with her dad and I at midnight. Rick didn’t stay up much later, but Bren and I watched most of a movie, then we lay in bed talking until around 4 a.m. Rick woke us girls up at 1 p.m. this afternoon and took us out to lunch and a movie. We saw National Treasure which we enjoyed. I thought it was better than the first movie. After picking up some neccessities at Wally World, we came home and have had a quiet evening. We’re such an exciting family.
More About: Excitement , Allo , Excite

Still In Holiday Mode
2007-12-27 11:16:00
Bren came in to work with me this afternoon at one o’clock. There were only three girls in the teen room watching T.V. when we arrived, so I knew I would have plenty of time to take all the Christmas decorations down and clean real well, which is nearly impossible to do with a room full of kids. I worked non-stop, cleaning for four hours while Bren read her Beth Moore book, watched a movie, and played Guitar Hero on PS2. Rick came and picked her up at 5:00 so they could go home and get ready for their date. As a Christmas gift, Bren wanted to take her dad out to our favorite Thai restaurant in Fairbanks. Bren and I have eaten there sevearl times, but Rick had never been. He loved it. (more…)
More About: Holiday , Mode

Christmas Day
2007-12-26 10:00:00
I’m never letting Bren go to bed early on Christmas Eve ever again. She woke up a little after 5 a.m. this morning and lay there in bed until exactly 6 a.m., at which time she woke us up. I had only been asleep for three hours. Yes, I realize that was completely my fault, but still. Six a.m.? The gift-opening session was a blur, but I do remember opening this, and being very surprised: My friend, Kim, has one of these coffee makers and makes me a great cuppa coffee every time I visit. I’ve been wanting one for about a year, and now I have one :) (more…)
More About: Christmas Day

Christmas Eve
2007-12-25 12:10:00
Today was the first day I had even a smidgen of Christmas spirit. I woke up around 11 a.m. and peeked in on Bren. I was surprised to see her half-awake. I laid on the bed next to her and we took several minutes waking up together, talking about our plans for the day. After Rick came in from shoveling the driveway Bren made a dash for her stocking, which she always opens Christmas Eve morning. Afterward, resisting the urge to run to the computer to use her $25 itunes gift card, Bren offered to make an omelet and bacon breakfast for us, which was delicious (where she got the cooking genes, I’d like to know!) After we ate and got presentable, we drove to town for some last-minute shopping. Actually, Bren had something she wanted to get for me, so they dropped me off at The Mother Ship where I indulged in a venti coffee of the day and looked for a good book for my friend, Kim. Before long Bren and Rick were back. Rick found a chair to relax in while doing his best to...

Let’s Lose Sixty Pounds And Buy New Clothes!
2007-12-23 21:49:00
All showered and make-up applied, I stood in my little walk-in closet this morning wearing a t-shirt, a towel wrapped around my waist, trying to find something to wear. It’s the Sunday before Christmas and I knew everyone at church was going to be in their nicest outfits, looking very festive. I had nothing. I grabbed a brown pair of jeans and a brown blouse, then set up the ironing board. While ironing my top, Bren came in looking very pretty and plopped down on my bed to watch me. “You’re not wearing brown on brown are you?”, she asked. “Yes, I am. I have nothing else to wear.” I finished ironing and put the blouse on, then the jeans. I heard a stifled laugh coming from Bren’s direction and turned to looked at her. “What!? (more…)
More About: Clothes , Sixty , Cloth

Photo Friday
2007-12-21 13:04:00
A guy-friend of Bren’s came over last night so she could color his hair. What a riot that was. Priceless expression:
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Festivus Party?
2007-12-20 18:58:00
It’s 45-below this morning. On the way to school our breath froze to the car windows which was pretty cool. I hope the school crossing guard is getting paid well. In about an hour and a half I will be heading to our office “Festivus Party ”. Evidently this is something Seinfeld- related. I’ve never seen Seinfeld in my life, so I haven’t a clue what all is involved beside food. I’m told I qualify to attend this party because I was overheard saying something like I HATE CHRISTMAS. Don’t tell anyone. I must snap out of this cold-induced stupor and get busy on my Festivus casserole, and locating a gift to wrap up. Bye.

To Be Read (TBR) Challenge 2008
2007-12-19 20:47:00
I’m glad I dropped by Jen’s blog this morning and discovered the annual TBR Challenge . There are many books I have had for years that I either haven’t read at all, or began reading and didn’t get very far. With this challenge I will at least get to 12 books I “have been meaning to read”. The List Praying, J.I. Packer & Carolyn Nystrom Driven By Eternity, John Bevere Scripture Alone, R.C. Sproul Assured By God, Burk Parsons Luther The Reformer, James M. Kittelson Lessons From A Lifetime Of Writing, David Morrell The Spiritual Secret of Hudson Taylor, Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor Heaven, Randy Alcorn The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan The Color of Water, James McBride Perilous Pursuits, Joseph M. Stowell Saving Fish From Drowning, Amy Tan Alternates The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan Like Water For Chocolate, Laura Esquirel A Bed Of Red Flowers, Nelofer Pazira A Tree Grows In Brookly...
More About: Read , 2008 , Halle

Live Well Wednesday #1
2007-12-19 18:57:00
I’m afraid to open this door, as there is an ocean behind it. I have not been living well at all, but I have to begin somewhere, don’t I? I’ll do something I rarely do, and TAKE. IT. SLOW. Pray Drink water Blog More later.
More About: Live , Wednesday

“It’s Not That Cold”
2007-12-19 05:05:00
Thank you all for your prayers :o) Being the good mom detective I am, I concluded that Bren had a case of mild food poisoning (nuff said on that one). The “weird” feeling is a hand-sized spot on her leg that is numb, and I think I figured that one out as well. I can’t sleep when Bren is ill, so I was up at 3 a.m. reading the news online and decided to check the local weather forecast. I laughed out loud when I saw the high for Thursday is predicted to be 33-below zero Fahrenheit. (I think I also mumbled something like what are we doing here?) Then I read the article below and realized that Saturday night was when the arctic air blew in, and also when Bren was at the sleepover birthday party and the girls walked a friend home late at night dressed like this: (more…)
More About: Cold

I Had A Bad Day
2007-12-18 13:02:00
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ~ Philippians 4:8 Today was a really bad day. I feel I have to supress the whole truth in a situation because to reveal it would cause someone deeper grief. I was surprised, hurt, and disappointed that my motives in a relationship were questioned. It never once crossed my mind that my helping someone could have been misjudged, but I understand. I’ll know better next time (but I sincerely hope there will never be a next time) I have an unsettling feeling that this isn’t going to end just yet. Oh how I wish I had thicker skin. Bren is sick tonight. She’s scared because she feels “weird”—not a normal sick. Please pray for her. I hope you all have a ...

Winter, A Movie, A Book & A Tree
2007-12-17 11:46:00
Okay, we’re done being spoiled with the “warm” weather (by warm I mean above zero) Winter is here. The “coldest in clear and calm valleys” comment…that would be us. Now where did I put my long johns? This weekend was the most enjoyable one we’ve had in quite awhile, mainly because we spent most of it together. Bren had a wonderful time at the sleepover party with her friends, and we were so happy to know she was out having fun. Rick and I indulged in a Stuffed Crust Supreme pizza at Pizza Hut (although the silverware was dirty and the place needs to be bulldozed at the earliest convenience, the pizza was sooooooo good!) Afterward, we rented Ocean’s 13 from BlockBuster, and relaxed on the couch under a warm blanket for the evening. (more…)
More About: Movie , Book , Tree

It’s The Little Things
2007-12-16 01:51:00
A winter school dance + being crowned Sophomore Class Princess of winter dance + learning how to dance + 13 hours of uninterrupted sleep = one very happy girl. This is the first time in many months that Bren has been so excited and happy, and it brought her dad and I much joy to see her that way. As my friend Kim said to me recently, when things are not going well in life for a long period of time, you learn to find happiness and joy in the little things. It’s about 3:30 right now on this Saturday afternoon and it’s nearly dark out. There is several inches of new snow on everything and it looks quite beautiful. I remember when I was young, taking walks in the snow with my dad just after sunset. Everything was blue and sparkling and so quiet. And I also remember my dad joining all of the neighborhood kids out in our backyard for a snowball fight in Philadelphia when I was ten. He beamed me right in the eye with a snowball and it took quite awhile before I coud ...
More About: Things

In No Particular Order…
2007-12-14 06:08:00
I haven’t disappeared, and here’s a post to prove it. I just got home from work and decided tonight is the night to forget everything I should be doing, make a cup of tea, kick my feet up, and give the keyboard a whirl. Rick cut himself back early from work this afternoon to take Bren to the high school basketball games in town (she’s taking pics for yearbook), so it’s just the dogs and me home at the moment. If you can’t make sense of what I write, don’t worry—it’s me, not you. (By the way, why didn’t anyone tell me Christmas is in 12 days?) Life in our house has been a bit strange lately because we are dealing with a few things that have cluttered up the path our normal thoughts and emotions travel down. It’s nothing too serious, it’s just that feeling you get when life begins to change and you realize something’s different. All of a sudden you’re making all kinds of adjustments, trying to get c...
More About: Order

2 a.m.
2007-12-04 12:04:00
I should be asleep by now, but I have so much on my mind. I just got done asking someone to do something for me that was just so over the top, and I have a knot in my stomach. How could I? When you feel like what you are asking for may be too much, but you aren’t quite sure—should you ask anyway?

Mmmmm…Saturday
2007-12-01 22:26:00
Sleeping in The Mother Ship (that’s Barnes & Noble for those who don’t know) Bren, Faith, and Kim Coffee Getting a new book Maybe catching a movie Cold Day Yeah, it’s gonna be a good one! Will bring Bren’s laptop along and update on all the activity going on at B&N today. What are you doing (or did you) with your Saturday ?